29
"Oliver?"
"No, too Thomas Tank engine… any of those names make me think of trains now" she sighed softly as she breastfed their son and Douglas sighed, then frowned.
"Trains. There's a station near here right?"
"All electric now. Unless you know of a steam engine sitting around with a full load of coal attached, not gonna go anywhere anytime soon" she didn't' even bother hiding her annoyance as he tried to find way to travel. Seems the arrival of their son made him jumpy in the most annoying kind of way. He wanted to move.
She didn't.
Even if deep down she knew that they had to, she wanted a few weeks of bonding first thanks muchly. God. Was it so much to ask for her bloody huha to be allowed to go back to normal size before she started swinging aroid fake balls too?
"Well … I can't think anymore" he flopped back on the bed, then grinned as he reached out to stroke a tiny little red cheek "So handsome. Yes you are!"
""Robert? Bobby for short?" Douglas said after a while hen added "Or Robbie? Berty?"
"Berty is for Albert isn't it?" she asked drowsily then snorted as she yawned "I like that though. Berty."
"Me too. A little Berty Boy. Albert" he nodded as he smiled, rubbing that little head now. "Al."
"Yeh. Al. Yeh" she mumbled, slipping into sleep and he carefully extracted the tot to burp and place in the little crib by the bed, sitting back to marvel at the wondrous creation in a world of doom. This led to a morose moment, then he settled on contentment.
Dwight appeared in the doorway and Douglas quickly covered his wife and went to the doorway, annoyed that once again that man was hovering. Seemed to do that a lot lately, especially around Kathy. For some reason Douglas felt more than slightly threatened by this.
"Sorry Doug, was looking for you" the man said, immediately making Douglas feel silly for thinking it was about Kathy "Dean noticed one of the cows in the field nearby in calf or whatever, went over to check on it and… wants you to come look at something."
Douglas looked back at Kathy then flowed Dwight across the field to where Dean stood next to a cow calmly chewing on a mouthful of grass. When they got even Dean motioned for Douglas to look around the other side and when he did he felt physically ill. The cow had been attacked, partially eaten… as was the calf. It was visible in the wound, a partially devoured leg hanging out as the sightless calf stared into deathless eternity.
"What… I mean… why is she still alive? Jesus" he choked out.
"That's what is freaking us out. A Biter got to her, she got away… half her gut is gone, part of the calf … she should have bled out right? No blood. Do you see any?" Den hissed.
"Wounds are not quarterized... they look …"
"Rigor" Dean agreed, rubbing his face as he and Dwight watched Douglas approach the cow to look again. He tentatively reached into the cow and drew his hand back with horror.
"Cold. Dead cold meat. Jesus… it's a … but not attacking" he muttered.
"Not meat eaters by nature… not looking for our flesh" Dean surmised "But it shows animals can be infected. Maybe as carriers?"
"Christ on Crack!" Dwight hissed "Don't' tell the others. The pet dogs… those stupid cats… we do NOT want panic to incite some euthanasia in front of the kids."
"Dwight is right. Yeah, we … let's just chew on this a while. God, what a term to ... sorry" Dean grimaced "I didn't mean it like that."
"Also… we need to be more aware if we are taking a sheep or cow from a field to check it for bites, lucidity … life." Douglas pondered "We have to assume Biters are not adverse to eating everything and anything."
"So… our food source might run out. If this is to be considered … we cannot just pick up livestock along the way for food … we need to look at sustaining a herd ourselves" Dean pointed out.
"Well … we need somewhere else to be for that. No way can we have a herd of cows, or flock of sheep here… might as well ring a dinner bell … or put up a welcome sign for marauders" Dwight snapped, "Christ… we are still too close to the action. We need to go farther into the boondocks.
"Agreed" Douglas said surprised to find himself on the same page as this man he secretly envied for his ability to make Kathy smile these days.
"Well … let's get a map, see if Kathy can sit in with that magical notebook of hers and maybe we can find a seclusionary haunt that might last us through the next winter?" Dean asked.
"Agreed."